Robert Patterson has taught acting on New York City's Upper West Side for the past 37 years, leaving a successful career as a stage actor in 1973 to pursue teaching. The Patterson Studio is conveniently located a short distance from the major intersection of Broadway and W.72nd St.          Building on the work of his own teacher Sanford Meisner, he has developed the most complete way of working presently available for actors, and is recognized as the most uniquely gifted acting teacher in the field today. Regular classes consist of eight to ten students selected out of 450 to 500 applicants, and only those upholding the highest professional standards are accepted. The full course takes 28 months of class time to complete.          The training proceeds from a single stated purpose: To train each person to be a versatile character actor, making full use of his or her particular range, regardless of whether the playwright be contemporary, musical or classical in nature. Providing a complete way of working, the training enables the actor to function to his or her fullest capabilities, no matter what the professional circumstance.          The Full Program is divided into two parts. The first part, The Basics, is to train the actor as a truthful, flexible, unmannered, abandoned, acting instrument. The second part, The Interpretive Work, trains actors from the improvisational basis to recreate the life of a role, through the selectivity of what they are doing, regardless of the playwright's choice of writing. Emphasis is made on the classical nature and rich traditions of the Theatrical Arts, and students are required to extend themselves through singing, dancing, reading and independent study and bring this understanding to their work.